News in the media: 2007 to now

2007-JUL-13: The fifth movie in the Harry Potter series, "Harry
Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" opened. Barnes & Noble gave a
synopsis:

"Hard times hit Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix, as the boy wizard warns of the evil Lord Voldemort's
return, only to face skepticism and denial from the Ministry of Magic."
1

A plot outline published by IMDb states:

"With their warning about Lord Voldemort's return scoffed at, Harry
and Dumbledore are targeted by the Wizard authorities as an
authoritarian bureaucrat slowly seizes power at Hogwarts." 2

The box-office revenue on its day of release was $44.8 million in the
U.S. and 74 million worldwide. Among all movies released on a Wednesday,
this is the highest grossing movie of all time. 3 A movie trailer is available
for viewing. 1

2007-JUL-20: All or essentially all of the large bookstores
(Borders and Barnes & Noble in the U.S.; Chapters and Indigo in Canada)
stayed open in the evening and organized parties leading up to the
sale of the book at one minute past midnight.

The Internet is awash with spoilers. One site in Europe contains photographs
that were allegedly taken of each page of the new book. The frenzy to learn its contents
was fueled by
a statement by the author that two leading characters died in the final
book. There was considerable speculation that Harry Potter himself would be
one of the two. Fortunately, this was not so. Harry and his two side-kicks all
survived.

Many young people
identify with Harry. Among these tens of millions of children and youths
there were certain to be a few who are mentally unstable. If Harry had died,
there might well have been a rash of sympathetic suicides around the world.

An unidentified online retailer started shipping books during the week
before the official released. This caused publisher Scholastic to take legal
action. The New York Times and the Baltimore Sun published advance reviews
of the book on JUL-19. R.K. Rowling said in a statement:

"I am staggered that some American newspapers have decided to publish
purported spoilers in the form of reviews in complete disregard of the
wishes of literally millions of readers, particularly children. I am
incredibly grateful to all those newspapers, booksellers and others who
have chosen not to attempt to spoil Harry's last adventure for fans."

A spokesperson for the New York Times defended their book review:

"Our feeling is that once a book is offered up for sale at any
public, retail outlet, and we purchase a copy legally and openly, we are
free to review it. We came across a copy of 'Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows' at a store in New York City and we bought it. We took
great care not to give away the ending, nor to give away significant
details about who lives and who dies, confining our review -- which,
incidentally, had extremely high praise for both this final book and the
entire series -- to broader-brush assessments of the tone and the
writing." 4

2007-OCT-19: J.K. Rowling outs Albus Dumbledore: J.K. Rowling,
42, started her first tour of the U.S. in seven years with an appearance at
Carnegie Hall. She told the audience what some Harry Potter fans had long
suspected: that she "... always felt Dumbledore was gay." He is the
head of Hogwarts School. According to Rowling, Dumbledore fell in love with
Gellert Grindenwald, another wizard. However, Grindenwald became more
interested in the dark arts; Dumbledore was "terribly let down" and
went on to destroy his rival/love. She said that that love was Dumbledore's
"great tragedy. ... Falling in love can blind us to an extent." She
said that he had changed the screenplay for the movie version of her sixth
book "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." It had referred to
Dumbledore's past female lover. She crossed it out and wrote "Dumbledore
is gay" over the text. Her audience appears to have gone silent after
her statement; then it erupted into applause. Rowling said that: "If I'd
known it would make you so happy, I would have announced it years ago!"
5

2008-AUG-07: Terminus, an academic conference focused on
all things Harry Potter was held on 2008-AUG-07 to 11 in the
Hilton Chicago Hotel in Chicago IL. They "... expect over 1,000 adult
attendees at Terminus: academics, educators, librarians, writers,
artists, professionals and fans from around the world." See:
http://www.narrateconferences.org/

2008-SEP-08: J.K. Rowling won a lawsuit against RDR
Books in Michigan. The company had prepared to publish the Harry Potter
Lexicon by Steven Vander Ark. This would have been a type of encyclopedia
of the Harry Potter books. U.S. District Judge Robert P. Patterson said that the
lexicon would cause Rowling irreparable harm as a writer. Rowling and Warner
Brothers Entertainment were awarded $6,750 in damages. Patterson said that:
"Lexicon appropriates too much of Rowling's creative work for its purposes
as a reference guide." 7

2008: Warner Brothers decided to delay release of the sixth movie in the Harry Potter series, "Harry Potter
and the Half-Blood Prince" from 2008-NOV-21 until 2009-JUL-17. However,
Entertainment Weekly (EW) will still featured the film on the cover of
its fall preview issue. Both Warner Brothers and EW share the same
parent company: Time Warner. Apparently, their intra-communication
channels are not up to scratch. 6

2009-JUL-15: The sixth movie in the Harry Potter series, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" was released on 2009-JUL-15. IMDb describes the plot: "As Harry Potter begins his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he discovers an old book marked mysteriously 'This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince' and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort's dark past." It grossed over $300 million in the U.S. alone during 2009. 8

2010-NOV-19: The seventh movie in the Harry Potter series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1" was released. The final book by this name was split into two movies. IMDb describes the plot: "As Harry races against time and evil to destroy the Horcruxes, he uncovers the existence of three most powerful objects in the wizarding world: the Deathly Hallows." Part 2 is scheduled to be released in North America on 2011-JUL-15.9

Overview of the Harry Potter series:

The series of books has been translated into 67 languages and distributed worldwide. The first volume has even been translated into Latin and ancient Greek.

Impatient buyer in France have purchased English versions rather than wait for the French translations to become available. The fifth book was so popular that it became the first English-language book to ever top the bestseller list in France.

The North American versions of the books were slightly modified from the original British versions because many of the words and concepts contained in the books would not otherwise have been understood by young people there.

The Harry Potter films have been top-rank box office hits, with all six current releases on the list of highest-grossing films worldwide." 10

Universal and Warner Brothers opened "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" theme park at Universal Orlando in Florida on 2010-JUN-18. 10